Jealousy of friend emigrating

[Bookridden]

A friend is emigrating to Sydney, Australia in January. I'm pretty envious of her chance for a fresh start, life on the beach, apparently amazing standard of living etc etc. I really want to give my head a wobble and stop feeling jealous. Please point out some reasons why life in the UK might be better. (Should say that I hate the heat, am fat and menopausal, love culture and city life so probably am better suited to UK life. Aren't I? AREN'T I???)

Hit me with your best tips for any of the following:
Loving life in the UK
Not thinking life in Oz is perfect
Not feeling really dull in comparison with her jetsetter lifestyle

Thank you.

Which makes it all the more galling that Australia permits so much of its media to be controlled by a foreigner.

“As for british people dying in the currents...well, that's not really Australia's fault is it? I mean there are warnings everywhere. If you aren't used to this kind of swimming - learn.”

May I also politely suggest you swim between the flags? Our life savers are very good, but they get bloody sick of having to pull people out of the water when they haven’t been swimming between the flags. And it’s devastating to them when someone drowns.

If you’ve always lived in Perth how can you judge Sydney to be a shit-hole?

Your entire first post confirmed that you are more suited to life in the uk.

I love Australia but I get bored after a while. I find Sydney a tad soulless. The heat and wildfires are genuinely very concerning. The country is very behind politically and still very casually sexist and racist (especially if you ever leave the cities).

GO visit her! And get the best of both.

Spiders. All the spiders. Just no.

I love Bondi Beach - a beautiful beach in the city. I used to swim the length of it, my kids all learned to surf there. It was/is a most multicultural beach. I used to be able to swim out beyond the breakers (in between the flags still) and put my back to the ocean and stare at the beauty of Bondi Beach.

And yet 25 million of us live here and manage just fine. I can't remember the last time I saw a spider. They really aren't crawling all over the place as the stereotype would have you believe and if you do happen to see one it's not like it's going to start attacking you.

The thing that really puts me off Oz is that it is so isolated from the rest of the world. We are so lucky to have so much cultural diversity at our finger tips here in Europe. We have London as our capital and can be in Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Barcelona or Berlin in a couple of hours. There is a lot wrong with U.K. politically at the moment but we also have so much to be grateful for.

Behind politically?
Wow, aren’t we the uk that has had 12 years of Tory reign.

None of those things you've listed are racist.

Brexit could have been from economical and legislative reasons (don't be so ignorant to believe it's to stop immigration) and even if it was how strict are Australia's immigration policies!!!

Meghan Markle AND Prince Harry don't forget! Are we also racist to a white prince? I'm pretty sure their entitlement is what has aggrieved most people than the colour of her skin!

Sadiq Khan - maybe because of how completely useless he is at his job and the policies he is introducing rather than his skin colour!

But don't let those reasons ruin your own narrative.

Why are you envious?

If you really wanted to you could do the same

Yep, as well as the minimum 20 days annual leave (I get 25 too), we also get 10 days personal leave, which can be used if sick, or as carers. That rolls over every year, I've now got 30 days, because I'm never ill, but if my mum gets sick in UK I can come back for a month and be fully paid.

And yes, LSL is fabulous, plus not having to use it up in a given year and being able to accrue you can quickly stack it up really. Most places let you buy leave too.

I love living where we do in Sydney - right on the beach, the Aussie dream. Far less sexism than my 5 years in Europe (very senior role). But honestly, 200K won’t get you this. You’ll be literally an hour plus from anywhere decent in Sydney. You couldn’t afford much. I adore Sydney and live right on the beach but you cant do these things on 200K.

Honestly some of these comments are so fucking ignorant and as a Brit living in Sydney makes me thrilled not to be surrounded by such unbelievable snobs.

Couldn’t have said it better

Where do your friends live then... woop woop? Coz none of those 'complaints' are true at all.

These MN Australia-bashing threads are always a bizarre read.

Sorry OP I can't help you feel better, because I'm in Sydney and it is indeed awesome.

And guess what... if I ring for an ambulance, for any reason, one turns up!

Also, yes OP 200k is a great income.

I find on these threads the Brit’s living in Aus are always OUTRAGED that everyone else doesn't want to live there too, and get crazy defensive. Interesting because I’ve found this in real life too!

The main downers I can see are that it's a fair way from anywhere else, and it will usually involve leaving behind friends and family who won't be able to afford to just pop and see you on a whim . Personally I would rather move to Spain if it was just about weather, but that involves ideally having at least intermediate Spanish and doesn't pay spectacularly well if you need to get a job- but if you work for yourself and can work from anywhere- I think for me it's a more preferable option. Brits can still go but you need to have an income of at least £27,000 a year without doing any work in the Spanish system - so still fine if you work remotely for yourself or have a great pension . They also now have digital nomad scheme so you can go for a year provided you don't need a job in Spain but have income. I think Australia suits certain people really well, but not people who want/need family close by or can't cope with heat and different ways of doing things. If you are the kind of person posting here about butter going up by 29p -Australia isn't going to cut it. It's pricey on goods , services and housing- those expecting Australiannwages but uk prices are probably going to get a shock. My friend in Denmark thought Aus was even more expensive than Denmark or Sweden - think positive though OP, great place for a long holiday!!

Ha, equally I've found that Brits who don't want to live in Aus get outraged when people actually do want to move there!! Each to their own I say.

It works both ways though. Plenty of British people get really angry and defensive when anyone expresses a desire to live somewhere other than the uk. Especially on mumsnet, they usually get told ‘off you fuck then’ or ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out’.

Some might but I dont see it as common. In comparison if you know anything about most other countries, particularly once where they are really traditional (lots of european countries), its unfathomable to them that someone would choose to reject their local region let alone their country althought its more palatable if someone moves abroad for work purposes

But its very looked down on to be deprecating about your own country/town/region

Okay okay keep your hair on 😄

My friends adore Sydney and would never ever return as they’re the active outdoor type, so I took their feedback on nightlife at face value. They’re clearly hanging around the wrong areas or with the wrong people!

One of my great regrets is that I didn’t visit Australia when I was younger. I would have moved there. I love the place and spent a part of each year there until covid hit. I need to restart the cycle.